1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for printing images stored in a plurality of storage media. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and device for managing images stored in the plurality of storage media by using a display unit included in the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In image forming apparatuses, documents to be printed are converted into encoded data through application programs, and the encoded data is then printed on paper in a readable format.
Recently developed image formatting apparatuses use a memory card or a universal serial bus (USB) memory stick storing image data to facilitate the printing the image data directly from the external storage media, or to include a big capacity hard disk.
To print image data from a memory card, the image forming apparatus includes a display unit such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) to display images stored in the memory card. The LCD permits a user to select an image to be printed after verifying the images. The display unit included in the image forming apparatus has an N-up function to display a plurality of images stored in the memory card on one screen.
FIG. 1 illustrates an N-up display which displays a plurality of images on one screen. When the user selects a hard disk included in the image forming apparatus or an external storage medium connected to the image forming apparatus, images stored in the selected storage medium are displayed on the screen, as illustrated in FIG. 1.
However, even when a plurality of storage media are connected to the image forming apparatus, the user only obtain information on images stored in the storage medium selected by the user. Therefore, images cannot be transferred between storage media, resulting in ineffective management of the images stored in the plurality of storage media.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved system and method for effectively managing images stored in a plurality of storage media included in or connected to an image forming apparatus.